Shia LaBeouf’s sorry apology for racist rant
To the regular readers of this column, my apologies in advance for inflicting upon you the sorry apology issued by the abomination that is Shia LaBeouf.
If you’re like me — that is, the wrong demographic — that might be a name you’ve come across once or twice for, what was that again? Hollywood guy in trouble with the cops for drunken driving or bar fights or one of those crimes that Hollywood types are regularly in trouble for without real consequences.
But hey, isn’t he one of the good guys, the outspoken anti-Trump man, with the 4-year long art project — a live video stream in which LaBeouf and others chant “You will not divide us.” His arrest in January happened because of a fight he got into with a man who said “Hitler did no wrong” into the camera. See? Great guy.
Sadly, as he showed this week, the world isn’t divided into two groups: racists and anti-Trump-ites. In other words, opposing Trump doesn’t exempt you from being racist.
On July 8, LaBeouf was arrested and charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and obstruction in Savannah, Georgia.
“You are going straight to hell, bro” he told the police officers in footage captured on video.
“You especially, deputy,” he said. And eventually, “Cause you a Black man.”
He then accused the deputy of being racist for being a Black man, “who arrested me for being white.”
At another point, he jeers at one of the officers, “Hey, when you go home to your wife, what do you tell her at night? You know she watches porn . . . likes looking at Black d---.” You get the picture. This is one of those guys who, instead of working on the biases that exist in all of us, merely represses their expression when sober.
An apology came — eventually — on July 13.
“My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst,” LaBeouf said. “It is a new low. A low I hope is bottom.”
Really, LaBeouf? You thought disrespect for authority was your biggest problem there? Anything else? There’s a clue in your own apology, “I am grateful for their restraint.” Yeah, about that. You know that had you been Black or brown-skinned you would not be able to: struggle, get aggressive with police, yell profanities at them, run away when they were trying to arrest you without possibly deadly consequences. You know, further, that being openly racist to police and accusing them of being racist are actions that result in a few angry tweets, a few raised eyebrows and calls to help you, that they are textbook examples of the unearned privilege conferred upon you for the colour of your skin.
Do you think the words racist or race or racism deserved a place in your apology? No? Well, why would you?
In your world, being racist isn’t a crime. Only those who live with the consequences of racism are treated like criminals. Overt racism is never your fault. It’s invariably the fault of addiction or mental illness. It’s an act that cries out for compassion and forgiveness.
The system works for people like you. It works to erase the bits that reflect badly on other people like you. Look at all the stories eager to exonerate you.
Here’s CNN: “Body camera video released by authorities showed a surly, unco-operative LaBeouf yelling profanities at police.”
The very progressive Rolling Stone says, “the actor apologized for his language,” in a story that doesn’t mention the racist rants at all.
The headline in Variety: Shia LaBeouf Calls Police Officer ‘Dumb F---’ in Arrest Footage
It does list his racial tirade in another piece about the apology, but doesn’t mention that he didn’t apologize for the racism.
Turns out that in 2017, we still live in a place where profanities offend puritanical morals. Racism, not so much.